Cloud storage accounts allow users to store their content items in an online storage account that can be accessed from any computing device with a network connection. Users can thus upload content items such as pictures, songs, documents, etc. from a computing device to their online storage account and later access the content items from different computing devices.
While online storage accounts allow users to easily access their synchronized content items, synchronizing the content items themselves can be time consuming. For example, a user can have numerous content items stored on their client device, which can lead to a lengthy synchronization time. Further, mobile client devices such as smart phones may require a high speed connection to synchronize content item with their online storage account, further increasing the time required to synchronize content items.
Conventional content item synchronization methods queue content items and synchronize them one at a time. A common way to create the queue is based on a simple directory traversal to identify unsynchronized content items. In some cases, a user cannot share a content item until the content item has been synchronized to the content management service. When the user attempts to share and/or access a shared content item before it is synchronized with the content management system, the user is presented with an error message. The user then has to repeat the request until it succeeds. For example, a recipient user may have to repeatedly refresh a web page until the shared content item is available. This can lead to user frustration and, in some cases, abandonment of the service entirely. Accordingly, an improved method of uploading content items is needed.